Gorgon Rising
Concealed in Terror She sailed along in her Monsoon, her body adrift on a sea of blue just as her mind was adrift in a sea of pure black. She would find her way back to consciousness for a couple moments, but she was always met with the same sight: endless open sky and ocean. Sometimes it would be day and sometimes night, sometimes dawn and sometimes dusk, but always in the middle of an expanse with blue above and below. The monotony was broken by pain. It lanced through her person, white hot and blinding. It was like every cell of her body was splitting and shifting and changing. She remembered a similar pain, though it seemed like a lifetime away. And really, it was. She had been Ryukyu then, and they were twisting her into something different. They were twisting her into Kisaki. But now her body was rejecting its form and there was no one and nothing to guide it, no template to follow. It was longer, this way, more excruciating. She vaguely recognized her voice raised in a loud scream, though it reached her as though through several thousand feet of water. She did however feel her power reaching out to the sky, demanding it echo her pain. When she swam back to consciousness, less frequently than before, she found herself amid storms of varying types but always the same intensity: hail the size of small animals, torrential rains, lightning strikes. But it all occurred around her, only lightly touching her never truly sweeping her up in their might. But while she was under she saw visions of the most beautiful women reflected in a large mirror before her. Their features varied greatly between one another. Tall and short, big and thin, dark of skin or pale as milk. Women with hair like the feathers of a raven and those with hair spun from the light of the stars. They danced and they laughed and they looked happy and she wanted nothing more than to be like them. But she had become unsubstantial. When the mirror stopped showing visions and showed her reflection she looked at herself, but everything was blurred and uncertain. When it came into focus she was in turns tall and short, with dark black or vibrant green hair and skin on the fair side. Both of these stirred deep feelings of revulsion and wrongness in her. Then she started to see other forms. Ones with darker skin, different builds. They cycled through steadily, some pleasing her and others weren't so much. Then the cycle began to repeat as she landed on those traits she felt some unexplained connection to. Then the picture came together and who stood before her was truly and unequivocally her. She was tall and thin, her skin was a light brown, like chocolate or oak wood. Her hair was pure ivory, and her eyes were a deep, startling red. She had always been pretty, in both of her past lives, but now she was so in such a different way. There was no mistaking that she was no longer the other two. She was someone yet undiscovered. She was someone new. ------ The next time she woke up, it was like clawing her way up from a deep grave, or swimming from the ocean floor to the surface while your lungs screamed for air. Her eyes blinked open to a comfortable dimness and it took her a while to notice that she wasn't at sea anymore. She wasn't even on her waver. She was inside someone's house. She gasped and sat up, though this proved to be a mistake as her world tilted dangerously, a wave if vertigo sweeping her off her figurative feet. Then there were hands at her shoulders pushing her gently back onto the bed, laying her down. She looked up and blinked a few times, her eyes focusing on a concerned bespectacled face. "You just woke up, I wouldn't push my luck so far if I were you." She moved away from her slowly, her hands raised in a placating gesture "If you wanna sit up, you're gonna have to take it slowly, but I'm not gonna stop ya." Red eyes locked onto the form of the other woman and she nodded slowly. She sat up, slowly as instructed, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She touched her feet to the ground and took inventory of her person. She was noticeably larger than she had been before, as evidenced by the fact that two beds needed to be pushed together lengthwise to accommodate her. And...she looked just as she had in her vision or fever dream or whatever that had been. Dark skin and white hair and all. She was also naked, causing her to flash her host as she sat up, the blanket that had covered her sliding down to her waist. The woman didn't react to the nudity, and she didn't much care to cover up so she didn't. She went to speak, but the woman with the glasses cut her off "My name is T'Perro Darcy. I'm a doctor on this island." She moved to a corner and rifled through a trunk, pulling out an armful of large cloths "And this island is Ogygia. And 'island' isn't really doing it justice because it's actually a group of nine islands that share the same name. We're on the mother island, though, the one directly at the center of the other eight." She nodded slowly, not speaking. She didn't know if her voice would work if she tried. The woman, Darcy, put the cloths on her lap and she noticed they were actually clothes. They held a tribal-like design that was quite appealing to the eye, in her opinion "I didn't know what you liked to wear so I just had something I thought was pretty made up. Your other clothes were in tatters, so I had them thrown away...you're a Marine?" She shook her head as she clothed herself, replacing the blanket on the bed as she stood. She didn't need to stoop at all inside the house, which was saying something because if she had to chance a guess she probably cleared fourteen or fifteen feet in her new form "Was. Not anymore." Darcy nodded as though she understood on a deep level "I hear you. From the way the cloak looked, I would want to abandon that world too. What's your name?" Pale brows drew together as she placed the head wrap around her hair. She searched her mind for a name, but all the ones that came up were...wrong. "Mmm I...I had a name, once. Several. But none fit anymore. I don't have a name." Darcy looked thoughtful for a moment, but then motioned towards the door to the room "Come with me." They exited, and now she did have to duck to clear the threshold, and Darcy lead her through a couple more rooms and corridors. It was apparent that this wasn't only where she lived, but where she performed her work as a doctor as well. Through one last doorway and they were out into the bright sunshine, in the middle of a village. The building they had exited from was large and almost church-like, a holy place to the people of the island most likely. Darcy lead her away from the building and into the village proper. As they walked, she noticed the people of the town were staring at her. Some in awe, some in fear, and some from strange hiding places. She turned to ask Darcy what this was about, but the woman was already primed to explain "You didn't just wash up onto our shore. You brought a storm with you, the likes of which none of the people had ever seen." "Our people, well, we have a legend of how the world came to be. In the beginning there was nothing but blue, above and below. In the middle of the blue, upon a solitary rock, was a goddess." Darcy looked back to make sure she was paying attention then continued on "The goddess spent her days looking out onto the blue, but soon enough she became lonely." "She began to weep, and her tears trailed from her face into the blue below. It became the sea, salty with her sorrow. She found that she had the power to create with her own form. She smiled and the horizon was born, dividing the blue above from the blue below. She laughed and the clouds came to be, littering the sky." "She took the joy in her heart and molded it into the sun. She looked upon what she had made and was so happy. But she wanted to create more. She looked below her, to the rock, and willed there be more of them. And there were, becoming the land. She walked upon the land and found that wherever she tread, green sprung up and flourished." "While the world she had created was beautiful and good, she was still so alone. So she took the dirt below her feet and molded it into the creatures of the land. She took the water from the sea and created the fish of the deep, then she took the air and clouds from the sky to mold all the birds that live there." "And while she was no longer alone, she didn't have anyone to appreciate or take care of her creatures. So she took parts of her own body to create this time. From her lungs she made the people of the sky. From her hair she made the Minks. From her bones she made the Oni, from her muscles the giants and from her stomach the fishmen. Finally from her flesh she made the human and all their cousins." "In her journey to create, she had given so much of her that she was weak. She couldn't walk among her creations anymore, so she returned to her land and just watched them all play among one another. But they didn't simply play, they started to make war. They began to kill one another. And in that moment, she felt something that she didn't know existed: she felt anger." "She wanted to punish her creations to show them the error of their ways, and so she gave the rest of herself to command the sky in all its glory. With the rest of her power, she made the storms. And through them her fury was conveyed onto all of existence." She had been so enraptured by the story that she hadn't notice herself being led to a small outcrop on the coast of the island. She looked up at the wall of the outcrop and saw painting along the smooth walls made of sandstone, of the goddess and the world's origin story. Darcy pointed to a picture of the goddess at the center, and she understood. It wasn't exact, the woman's hair was longer and she was fuller in some areas, but she looked like the goddess "You brought the storm, and when people saw you they all began to worship. Even those who's faith had waned." "They see you as the second coming of the goddess." "And you?" "I'm not religious, but the resemblance and your power is uncanny." "What was her name? The goddess." Darcy looked a bit confused "Calypso, but we rarely ever speak it. To invoke the name of the goddess is to summon the wrath of the storm." "Calypso..." She whispered to herself, lost as she looked at the iconography. It was a long time before they made it back to the building she had woken up in. ------ "I was asleep for three days?" "Mhmm." Darcy picked up her spoon and brought it too her lips, sipping softly "I don't know how long you were at sea, but you'd been here for three days before you woke up. You weren't close to death, but you were definitely dehydrated and you'd hadn't eaten in a while. It was a bitch getting liquids into you." She nodded slowly and raised her own spoon to her lips. It had been two days since she woke up, and she hadn't done much around the island but rest and explore. It was a beautiful place, and the people were nice. But that was probably because they feared incurring the wrath of a goddess. "You're looking much better. Do you heal fast?" She thought about telling the woman of her Devil Fruit powers, but decided against it. For now, at least, it wasn't affecting her treatment. She simply shrugged and Darcy went back to her food. They lapsed into silence, but it was of the comfortable sort. Like they were old friends that didn't need words between them. ------ "Do you have any dreams?" Darcy chuckled suddenly, loudly. It was musical. She decided she liked hearing the other woman laugh "Dreams? What brought this on?" "I don't know. I remembered someone talking about dreams, along time ago. And wondered about yours." Darcy looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding "I do have dreams, yeah. I want to see all that the oceans have to offer. I want to become a better doctor." She trailed off for a moment "Not that I'm not a damn good doctor now, but on these islands...there's not a lot to learn. The world has so much knowledge to offer. I guess that's what I dream of." They were quiet, Darcy going back to her work while she watched. Or read. Or daydreamed. But then Darcy looked up at her, curiosity written across her face "What about you? Do you have dreams?" She thought for a moment "I used to. But now...I don't. Those dreams aren't mine, not really, so I can't claim them for myself." Darcy smiled sadly "You're gonna have to explain to me what you mean by that one day. All that 'I used to' stuff." She didn't say anything to that. ------ "Tell me a story, Darcy." She was starting to get bored, now. A week was a long time to go with nothing to do. She was healthy as a horse now, probably would be ready to leave soon. But Darcy wanted to keep her for a little longer just to be sure. The other woman looked pensive for a moment before closing her book "Alright. I'll tell you a legend of my people." "Another one?" "Oh fuck off, my people have a lot of legends." They both laughed at that. "This one is about Deva Dalma Tia the Vengeful. Many many generations ago, these islands were one large mass. A true sight to behold. It was ruled by a council of nine men. Now, like all men, they were filled with hubris and drunk on their own power. This is after they had learned to navigate the seas and avoid the horrors of the storm, the final creation of Calypso made to keep her others in check." "Tia was a soothsayer. She peered into waters from the purest springs of the island to tell the future. She foretold storms and drought and misfortune, her fortunes were sought after by all, though headed by fewer. Those that listened least of all were the leaders of the islands." "She told them that should they continue to laugh in the face of the great goddess as they were, they would incur her wrath. She pleaded with them, time and time again, to show humility and to pay their respects. Rather than listen to her wise words, they cast Tia from the cliffs onto the rocks below, telling the people of her treasonous words and saying she was a sacrifice to placate the sea." Darcy shifted her position, now invested in her own story telling "Deva Tia didn't die, however. She was caught by the waves and pulled safely into their embrace, able to breathe the water as easily as she could air. She was brought down, down and down further still. So far down that the light faded and she saw only darkness." "She could not see, but three voices called to her, each speaking in turn. Deva they said Deva Tia. Those who should listen to you, who should head your words and take them as though from the goddess' mouth itself have forsaken you. Their voices were like the hisses of vipers, at once sweet like honey and toxic like poison Deva you must teach them they continued You shall be the horror you foretold. You shall be their downfall. We, granddaughters of the goddess, shall grant you this power." "Tia agreed, readily, to their words. And all of a sudden they revealed themselves to her. Monstrous forms that were half woman, half snake. While their lower halves were protected by thick scales, their upper halves sported hide like that of a goat. Their hair and faces were nests of writhing snakes, with wicked tusks extending from their mouths. And their eyes glowed with a dangerous power." She recognized the description of these granddaughters, but said nothing. She didn't want to interrupt the story or scare her host "And they offered Tia a fruit, a strange thing that glittered bright like an emerald. She took a bite and was consumed by a change. Next she knew, she was like them: a monster, a spirit of vengeance, an agent of the goddess." "Tia surfaced from the ocean, the fury of the sea in toe. She was of a terrifying size, greater than the island itself, and swept up a powerful storm in her wake. She lashed out at the island, rending it and destroying all that its citizens had built. And all the while she made sure to tell them it was all a result of their own foolishness." "When all was done, the island had been razed and broken into nine. But from that point on, in reverence of the goddess, only matriarchs have been allowed to lead the islands and their people. And all of said matriarchs are devout followers of the faith." Darcy finished her story and waited for a reaction, but her audience wasn't forthcoming with one. She simply shrugged and opened her book. After a time, she did speak "Do all of your legends end bloody?" "Huh?" "They all seem to end with a wrath. First of Calypso, then of Deva Tia. And since Tia was blessed by the goddess, she could be seen as an extension of the first wrath. Are they all like that?" "Hmm. No, but I feel the best ones are. They teach you the dangers of being too full of yourself. You know, if you're a mortal." She nodded and let Darcy go back to her reading, mulling over the story she had been told. ------ She stood before a ship, her waver loaded up onto the deck. She couldn't ride it comfortably anymore, she was much too large. But where she was headed, she could get it refitted to her size and reunite it with its larger counterpart. For now, she would use that which the Ogygians could offer. She looked to her side as Darcy came up to her, offering her something. It took her a moment to realize they were her skates "These were also worse for wear, but looked too important to throw out. I had honestly forgotten about them until just now." She took them with a nod of thanks and looked back at the ship. Darcy moved to rejoin the crowd of islanders that had gathered to see her off, most if not all in awe. They still thought of her as a god, it would seem. When she spoke, she didn't even realize she was doing it "Come with me." Darcy stopped and turned to look at her, eyebrows drawn in that cute look of confusion she always got "I'm sorry, but it just sounded like you asked me to come with you." "That's because I did." "...Forgive me, I'm still confused. Why exactly?" She smiled wide "Because I would be lonely on the sea. Plus I want you to realize your dream. You can't do that here on Ogygia." Darcy looked like she was about to say something, but thought better of it. Then she opened her mouth to argue, before promptly closing it again. After a few more cycles of this, she huffed and cross her arms. "I can't just pack up and leave! The island needs their doctor." "You have a whole staff of medical personnel. You're telling me no one's been trained enough to step up and handle your work?" Darcy looked as though she were about to say something, but the matriarch of the island, an elderly woman named Clio stepped away from the masses to stand with her "I couldn't help but overhear...well yes I could but I couldn't care enough to not listen." She chuckled at herself before continuing "Darcy, we will be fine without you my dear. You are young, so young! Go out an live. There is so much of the world to see, so much you want to see." "But mama-" "No buts! You've no choice but to go, as the Deva of Ogygia I command you." Her look turned grave, told all that she wouldn't hear any arguments "And when you return, it will be with all the skills you've learned on the great tides and all the stories you'll regale us with, ne?" "Well..." She looked from Clio to the ship and back "I better go pack." In no time, she was back with provisions. They moved onto the ship and looked back to give one last wave to the gathered masses as they pushed off. The wind was sure so they dropped the sails, which was surprisingly much easier than either thought it would be. She looked out onto the sea as they moved, not noticing Darcy watching her from near the helm. "So, captain. I've a question." "You do?" "I do indeed. You said you don't have a name. Did you find one during your time on Ogygia?" She paused, her mouth opening and closing a couple times. But she needed to think. She poured over her time on the island slowly, and came to the realization that she did find a name on the island. She just didn't know what Darcy would think of it "I did find a name. I was surrounded by so much worship that I decided to embrace it. I didn't notice I made that decision until you asked, however." Darcy raised her eyebrow but didn't say anything, so she continued "My name is Calypso. Dalmatia Calypso." The woman didn't react, simply pushed up her glasses and searched the other with deep, probing eyes. "Alright, Calypso. Where are we headed?" She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She cared a lot about what Darcy thought, it would seem "Home, Darcy." She moved to the helm of the ship and steered them in the right direction. She reached far back into her memory. To a time with war and conflict, and followed the draw there "We're going home." Darcy looked suspicious, given the way of which she mentioned her past, but didn't question Calypso. She was her captain now, after all. One Shot, One Kill "A fucking Yonko!" "You've said that several times in the three days since we left Wano, Darcy." "Yes but..." The blonde paced the deck of the GRS Monsoon, back and forth in front of Calypso at the helm. Every once in a while she'd move over to the edge of the ship and look down, at the blue of the sea moving beneath them. Not directly beneath, hundreds of feet below. They were being carried on clouds of twisting gales, directed by the ship's mechanisms and their mistress. Darcy shook her head and moved away from the edge, looking back at Calypso "You knew a fucking Yonko!! Got a boat from the personal shipwright of Daddy L. Legs herself! This is insane, Calypso. Don't you think it's insane?" The dark skinned woman took a moment to look like she was puzzling the question, gently shifting the wheel to guide the ship in the direction she wanted "He's not her personal shipwright, not anymore at least. Fischer is in charge of building all the ships for the Widow's Empire." Calypso ducked as something was thrown at her, her chest shaking with laughter. When she straightened, Darcy was smiling begrudgingly "You're an ass, you know that?" "So you've said, love." They lapsed into a comfortable silence, Calypso looking at her Log Pose every once in a while as she steered them through the skies. After a while she spoke to her only other crewmate "Darcy I'm gonna stop us off at the next island, I feel like picking up a newspaper and maybe getting a bite." "What? My cooking not good enough for you miss high and mighty?" "I was waiting for the right time to tell you, but it does taste a lot like hospital food." This time the object thrown hit Calypso directly on her forehead, though she still laughed all the same. ------ The large, black body of the Great Red Spot descended from the sky above down to a quaint little island silently. As they lowered, Darcy saw the looks of awe, and some of fear, that came across the face of citizens at the docks. After all, what kind of ship disguised itself as a cloud? The blonde turned to her captain, watching as the woman set about pulling up the sails and dropping the anchor with an impressive speed and efficiency. It's probably thanks to those damn skates. She thought to herself "You know you could let me do the rigging from time to time." "Do you know how to do the rigging?" "Well...not exactly." "Then you're never gonna lay a hand on my Baby." "Baby? Is that her name?" "Nope!" Calypso finished and smiled cheekily at the doctor "Her name's Red, but she's also my darling. My Baby." She pet the mast of the ship lovingly and Darcy exaggerated rolling her eyes at the woman. "Where to, Cal?" Calypso looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging "Off the ship probably." "No shit, dumbass. After that?" "We ask someone where we are. Then we ask where we can get something to eat. Then we'll probably go eat. Better?" "Much." They stepped off the ship, both ignoring the stares the woman drew. Calypso towered even the tallest of men on the docks, and she could tell that they weren't used to seeing anyone like her on this island. Darcy looked for someone to ask about directions, but their attention was drawn to a crowd rushing by them without so much as a sideways glance at the foreigners. "That seems interesting." "That seems like trouble. People only gather like that to watch others suffer." "Or prosper." "Rarely that." "So it's decided, we're following them." Darcy groaned, but walked along with Calypso as she trailed the group. Soon they found their way to what was surely the town square, shops and stalls all around them and important looking buildings as well. What really drew the eye was the large cages at the center, three just large enough for one person and suspended above the ground. Like bird cages. Calypso thought. And then her eyes wandered, finding a curious sight not too far away. They were building something, two beams of wood supporting a third and a platform beneath them. Calypso was a bit confused, and it must have shown on her face because Darcy leaned up to tell her "They're gallows. They're gonna hang that guy." Calypso's eyes were drawn back to the man trapped in the middle cage. He was dressed in rages, all of his clothes most likely taken from him when he was arrested. He was dirty, but his moustache and hair were still perfectly kept, black hair going nicely with his complexion. Even though he was trapped in the cage, he was still bound in cuffs, which seemed a bit like overkill to Calypso. Darcy was just as curious as she was, it seemed, because she turned to one of the groups of people in the square with them "Hello, me and my friend aren't from here. What'd that guy do to earn an execution?" "Oh deary me!" A mousy woman piped up from within the group, one could tell just by looking at her that she lived for gossip "A horrid affair! Absolutely horrid!! That awful vagabond slaughtered an entire family not three days past." She threw a look of contempt in his direction "Grew up here he did, was friends with the man who's family he killed! I heard he was the best man at the wedding. Talk about betrayal...truly a horrid affair. Glad his execution is coming in an hour's time!" Calypso's eyebrows drew together as she heard the story, while Darcy just nodded in understanding. The blonde's eyes filled with sorrow and sympathy for the deceased, but Calypso's were filled with disbelief. The white haired woman stepped forward and began walking towards the cage, only to be stopped by a hand around her wrist. "Where are you going?" "That's a silly question" Calypso said plainly "I'm going to talk to him." "You're going to talk to the convicted murderer?" "I don't think he did it." "...Okay I'll bite, why do you say that?" "He doesn't look like the type to kill a friend." Darcy searched Calypso's face incredulously, looking for any signs that she was being messed with. Finding nothing, she sighed and let her wrist go. She walked forward to the cage, ignoring the stares that followed her as she did. These were different from the other stares she got, these ones wondered why she was approaching the killer. The man looked up, his eyes sparking with mild curiosity but otherwise dull. When she got close, she stopped and just looked at him, seemingly searching him for something. After a long, almost uncomfortable period of staring, he spoke. "Well-" He stopped to clear his throat, his voice dry and scratchy from disuse "Are you another local come to spit on me and curse my name?" "No. I'm not local. Quite the opposite actually." "Then a foreigner come to get a good look before a real live execution?" "Sorry to disappoint but no. I wanted to ask you why you're here." "I killed a whole family! They must've told you that." "No, you didn't." Calypso said earnestly. The man looked taken aback, something flickering deep within his eyes at her words "W-what-" He coughed slightly "What makes you think that? The cage and the shackles just scream I'm innocent! do they?" "Cute, but no. You don't seem like someone who would do something like that." She paused for a moment, her eyes flashing from red to green for a moment as she looked at him "I sense sorrow from you, laced with guilt and regret. If you'd killed them, there would be anger. Satisfaction. But you're just...hollow." Her turned more and more sympathetic as she spoke "So why are you here?" "..." He stared at her for a long moment, his own eyes flashing slightly. He was gauging her intentions, how earnest her questions were. After several tense heartbeats he shifted in his spot "Because I caused their deaths. I deserve to be punished for that, if for nothing else." "How did you do that?" "Just full of fucking questions aren't you, girl?" He didn't sound angry. He sounded frustrated and defeated. He huffed softly and shook his head "I was a bounty hunter. Working in the underworld comes with risks, so once I started I vowed I'd never make any meaningful connections. In case someone came after me or...or them." Calypso nodded in understanding and he continued "I never thought they'd look into my past...or follow me on my rare trips back here. He was my friend. I'd...I loved him more than I could ever tell you." His voice filled with emotion and his eyes with tears "I never told him, what would be the point? He'd always fancied your lot. But I couldn't stay away. I needed his friendship like I need air to breathe." "When they caught up to me, it was easy to see how they could hurt me." Tears fell now, but his voice was steady "They didn't just kill him. They killed his wife, his daughters. They were my godchildren you know. So much for that." He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes "They put bullets in their heads, my preferred method of combat you see. They set it up so that I would find them, and that the authorities would find me at the scene of the crime." He looked at her, his eyes even duller than they had been before "I haven't told anyone this because...because I deserve it. I deserve to die hanging. I didn't stay away. I kept coming back because I was so fucking weak and he paid for it. They all did..." Calypso thought for a moment before she replied "Do you know who did it?" He gave her another confused look "Why?" "Answer the question." "...aye. He left me his calling card, though only I would know it. Nanaroku Chouken, a right bastard that was pissed at me for busting up his petty slaver's ring." He spit off to the side, a look of distaste coming to his face "The bastard had the nerve to come here as well. I saw him in the crowd." Calypso nodded once, briskly "Stay here." He gave her a deadpan look and she realized what she had said "Sorry. I meant...just don't die yet." He chuckled ruefully, though Calypso found she didn't hate the laugh. She turned on her wheels and skated towards the blonde she had come with. "No." Darcy said immediately as the woman came close "That's the look you get when you're gonna try and convince me to do something stupid. You got it when you asked me to join you, you got it when you asked me to sneak into a Yonko's territory with you, you got it when you asked me to help you raid that straggler Xros ship on our way from Wano. The answer is fucking no." "It's funny you say that, because no matter how much you say no to what I ask you always go through with it. So can we skip to that?" Darcy huffed petulantly "Depends. Are you gonna ask to break him out?" "Nope." "Oh. Thank-" "I'm asking you to help me convince them to free him. Just to bring the culprits to justice." "Fuck's sake...you're a monster." "Oh you have no idea." She gave the blonde a cheeky wink and a smirk before turning on her wheel once more and skating off to find the officials of the town. ------ Calypso found herself in the office of the man in charge of the island, alone. She had wanted Darcy with her, but the secretary at the door had insisted she go in by herself. She didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble with the locals, so they complied. The man who stood at the window, one that overlooked the main square and the gallows, was elderly. He looked tired and sad. He sat at his desk after a several moments of silence. Calypso was large for the office, and much too large for the chairs, so instead she sat on the floor, her legs pulled under her. She still looked down at him. "Miss Calypso is it?" She nodded "My name is Morrison Andrew, the mayor of Galgen as you know. How can I help you?" "You know the man that's down there in the cage, I'm sure. The one to be hung." "Ellington Reis, yes. He's been charged with the murder of my son and his family." Calypso met his steely gaze head on, but didn't bat an eye "Then you watched them grow up together. You would see how close they were. How Ellington would never have killed him." "What do you know of their...closeness?" "Only what he told me." Her statement still lingered in the air, and Andrew gave a soft grunt in response "They'd never shut up about one another. I was sure I'd get a son in law instead of a daughter in law, but then Reis left...before now I would have never thought the man would do such a thing. But who else could it have been?" "Have you heard of a man named Nanaroku Chouken?" The mayor pulled a face, but nodded all the same "The man is notorious among us and our sister islands, though he's just a small time slaver. Reis was said to have crossed him...what about him?" "Ellington said he had set him up, and that the man had come to see him in that prison you made for him." Andrew looked pensive, mulling over what she had said. Slowly he nodded "He could've done so. He's spiteful enough and if he knew what Jack meant to Reis..." He stopped mid-sentence, shaking his head slightly as if to get rid of the thoughts "But without any proof I can't just release Reis. The town would never allow it." "Then don't release him fully. Give him over to me. I'll go with him to hunt down Nanaroku, and we'll bring you back your proof. If I find that Ellington is simply a skilled liar and tricked me, or tries to escape, I'll drag him back here and hang him myself for the entire island to see." The man stared at Calypso for what seemed like years, and she stared right back. She had to let him know she was sincere about this. It wouldn't work otherwise. They needed trust. He stood suddenly, turning to pull a ring of keys from behind him. Calypso caught them as they were tossed to her. "Chouken was sighted on an abandoned island nearby here, due east. It's his favorite haunt when he's in our stretch of sea. You might find him there." He paused, as if considering his next words "Help Reis. He's all I have left to remind me of my son." Calypso didn't say anything, just rose and left the room. ------ Calypso unlocked the cage to a loud chorus of protests and angry shouts. Like everything else the people threw at her, she ignored it. She reached out her hand to help Reis down, brushing her hands against the shackles accidentally. She felt an immediate drain on her strength that caused her to take a step back. "You're a Devil Fruit user?" Reis smirked and reached to pull the keys from her slacked grasp, unlocking the shackles himself "Yep. And I can guess by your reaction you are as well?" Darcy stared at her intently as she nodded, and Calypso knew she would have to explain at some point. The blonde didn't press the matter immediately, to Calypso's relief, simply handed Reis a bundle of black and stepped back "Your affects...uh sorry I don't know your name." "Ellington Reis." Calypso and the man in question answered at the same time, to a the confusion of he and Darcy. Calypso shrugged "I talked to Mayor Morrison, remember?" Darcy nodded, seemingly content with the answer, and Reis just shrugged. "I'll change on the ship. You do have a ship, yes? And a destination?" "Yes to both. Morrison says that Nanaroku was sighted nearby." "I know the location like I know my own name." He walked briskly towards the docks, prompting Calypso and Darcy to go along with him. The crowd parted for them, though still seething with anger. They moved towards the Monsoon to the sound of the crowd being placated by Morrison. Or at least the mayor trying to calm them. ------ "I fucking love this ship!" Calypso was watching Ellington at the helm as he steered the Monsoon, as giddy as a child on their birthday. She had only really gone over an overview of how the ship worked, and he was already sailing her like he was born to. The propulsion systems carried them quickly over the tides, the sails drawn as to not impede their movements. Calypso didn't usually like the idea of others manning Red's helm, it almost felt like cheating, but Reis was...different somehow. He did it with a reverence that most other people didn't have for a good ship, and she respected it. He'd make a good addition to our crew... She drew herself from the thought and instead looked at the island they were coming up on "I'm guessing that's it." "Yup. Chouken's hideout." His stare focused at the island and his eyes flashed "He's got a lot of men there. Three ships with no less than fifty men per. He brought an entire entourage...but what for?" Darcy walked onto deck, carrying with her something that looked suspiciously like a scaled egg "Doesn't matter all that much, does it? We're gonna stop em either way." Calypso jumped down from her position besides Reis and gave Darcy a look "Is that the Devil Fruit we took from those Xros?" "You know it is. We didn't nab any other Devil Fruits on our way." Calypso nodded slowly. She chewed her lip softly for a moment "Are you um...are you going to eat it?" Darcy shrugged. Calypso just stared at her until the blonde answered "I don't know! I'm not sure how much use I would be in open combat...I'm just a doctor." "You handled yourself against those pirates we took that from just fine." "Please! You saved my ass at least three times. I'm dead weight." Calypso put her hands on the blonde's shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze "That's what a crew does. We support each other, we save each other. You're a wonderful doctor and invaluable, so don't think you're dead weight because you get caught off guard during a fight sometimes." Darcy nodded, looking down at the Devil Fruit for a time. She nodded again and then moved to place the fruit back in the hold below deck, just as Reis called "Land ho!" ------ When they made landfall they found Nanaroku's men waiting for them in force, as well as the fat man himself. He sneered down at them, Reis in particular "Ellington! I'd thought you'd be hanging by now. I was so sad I wouldn't be able to see the light fade fwom youw eyes. Now I get to end you myself! Kill them!!" The pirates closed in, and the three sprung into motion. Clouds surrounded Calypso's form and flooded the area, smashing into men left and right and sending them flying in every which direction. She directed them with the smallest of twitches, barely moving from her spot as she felled pirates left and right. Darcy had summoned flames to her hands, and lashed out with a claw-like swipe, sending three waves of flame at a charging group. Those that didn't fall to the first onslaught of flames were picked off by bullets of fire she launched from the tips of her fingers. When they got too close, she wreathed her body in flames as a deterrent, lashing out with kicks and punches left and right to knock down those who thought they could push through her fire. Reis was a flurry of bullets and gunpowder. He seemed to summon cannons that shimmered in the light from thin air, launching cannonballs alongside his bullets. He tried to advance towards where Chouken was, but the man turned tail and ran into the forest that covered most of the island. And with every man he dropped to clear the path, it seemed two more took his place. "You two follow Chouken!" Calypso called to them "I'll handle these assholes." Darcy looked apprehensive, but Reis didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opening Calypso gave them as she cleared the way with her clouds. Darcy followed after him, but not without looking back to her captain one last time. Reis had a purpose, a direction, Darcy could see it. He could sense where Nanaroku was going. She wanted to talk, to fill the air with something other than the rush of leaves and crackle of branches as they ran past, but she couldn't think of anything to say. So she stayed silent. They came to a camp and found Chouken scrambling to gather his things. Reis fired a shot that caught him in the leg, sending the man falling to the ground and scattering the things he was carrying in his arms "You miserable fucking rat!!" Reis was consumed with anger, pressing the gun to Chouken's temple as the man whimpered and cried pathetically for mercy. "Did they beg? When you killed them did they fucking beg?!" Chouken mumbled something, though it was too low to hear. Reis struck the man across his face with the gun "Speak up!" "I wasn't there!! It was one of my men, I had him do it all. I wasn't there!" "You fucking sack of piss. You wanted them dead, me killed for the crime, and you couldn't even pull the trigger yourself?! I should fucking kill you right Here!" He looked poised to pull the trigger, but Darcy spoke in a calm tone despite the situation "If you kill him, then there's no evidence of your innocence. Just another dead body, and you looking so much more guilty." "What the fuck does it matter? I don't have anything to live for, he took Jack from me!" "You have his memory. Without you there will be one less person to keep it alive. Besides, would Jack have wanted you to throw your life away for revenge?" Darcy reached out and put a hand on his shoulder lightly, though she didn't speak anymore. "You're right." He said quietly, lowering the gun "Watching him hang will be much more satisfying." He raised the gun again and struck the man across the temple, knocking him out instantly. Assured that Reis wouldn't do anything he would come to regret, Darcy moved to pick up what Chouken had dropped. They were mostly rolled up papers, so she wondered what was so important that he stopped to grab them. She unrolled one and shook her head at the contents "Turns out" she called to Reis, who was busy tying Nanaroku up "All the men were for an invasion of Galgen. He planned on to sell those who survived into slavery and make a more stable base in the island's ashes." Once he finished trussing the pig up, Reis gave the man a swift kick "Glad we stopped him then. Let's take him back." He reached down and grabbed a rope he'd tied to the man's legs, beginning to drag him out of the encampment "You don't think your captain had any trouble at the beach, do you?" Darcy didn't answer. When they reached the beach, they found Calypso sitting among a garden of statues. Some looked to have frozen in their spot, others to be running away in terror. And then there were those statues who had pieces of them crushed, or were completely destroyed. Calypso sat on the stump of a destroyed statue, waiting for them. "Ready to go?" Their captain rose and headed back towards the ocean and their ship. Neither of the two people accompanying her mentioned what they had seen. ------ Two days later, Nanaroku Chouken had been tried and hung for the murder of Morrison Jack and his family, as well as the crime of plotting an invasion of Galgen that would've resulted in numerous casualties and the enslavement of her people. Ellington Reis had been exonerated of course, with the apologies of all the people of the island. Calypso and Darcy were lauded as heroes as well. The two women were preparing to set sail, Reis standing at the docks to see them off "Question, ladies." "I may have an answer." Calypso said noncommittally. Reis chuckled "Yes I hope so." He took a moment to adjust his guns in their holsters, though he didn't really need to "I had a group of other bounty hunters that I had worked with, but they left me per my request when I was arrested. Could I ride along with you both? Just until I find another group of-" "Oh shut up, Ellington. You have a place in my crew if you want it." He gave her a roguish smile "That desperate for my company, fair lady Calypso?" "Don't flatter yourself. You're a good navigator, and I'm tired of doing all the steering all the time." "Bullshit! You nearly lost it any time I got near the helm." Darcy called from aboard. "That's because you'd crash her and then I'd have to kill you." "Eririririri!" Ellington laughed loudly, bringing a smile to Calypso's lips "Alrighty then cap'n! Lead the way." Calypso made her way onto the ship, Reis following after her with a bag in hand that hadn't been before. She smirked at that "By the way, Calypso, what is this crew?" "Well you've awakened a bit of bloodlust in me, Ellington." She waggled her eyebrows at him, prompting a loud chuckle from him and an eye roll from Darcy "We are bounty hunters." "Perfect!" He tossed his pack onto a crate and made his way to the helm "Where to?" "Just sail, Reis." She moved about the ship, raising the anchor and dropping the sails "I'll tell you when." Surfs Up, Dudette! Monster of the Lake Singer, Songwriter Hail...Caesar? Voyage of the Gorgoneia Category:Role-Plays